Tissue trauma resulting in a wound may be an unavoidable consequence of accidental or intentional injury (e.g., from surgery, etc.). The process of wound healing is thought by some to take place in four stages. The first stage is hemostasis which may begin immediately after the cutting occurs. In hemostasis, clotting may occur by natural means of platelet degranulation. Hemostasis may also be induced by artificial means to affect protein denaturation. The second stage is inflammation. In this stage, the immune system may provide a response to the threat of possible infection via signaling to defensive immune cells such as neutrophils and macrophages. The third stage is the proliferation stage. In this stage, fibroblasts may enter the wound area and produce large amounts of collagen that result in scar formation. A prolonged hemostatic or inflammatory stage may result in additional scar formation that delays both this third stage and the final stage of wound healing. The final stage of wound healing is remodeling. This may occur once a scar has formed and the breaking strength of the wound begins to increase. In this stage, the temporary collagen may be replaced by permanent tissue and the scar slowly fades. The duration of this final stage may depend upon how much scar tissue was formed in the previous stage.
While a variety of methods for monitoring the progress of wound healing have been made and used, it is believed that no one prior to the inventor(s) has made or used the technology as described herein.
The drawings are not intended to be limiting in any way, and it is contemplated that various embodiments of the technology may be carried out in a variety of other ways, including those not necessarily depicted in the drawings. The accompanying drawings incorporated in and forming a part of the specification illustrate several aspects of the present technology, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the technology; it being understood, however, that this technology is not limited to the precise arrangements shown.